Abstract
We analysed country-scale distribution records of solitary bees (i.e. excluding Apis mellifera) in countries in the Afrotropical Region, excluding the southern Arabian Peninsula and Socotra. Although different country estimates of bee species numbers can be explained by differences in climate, vegetation or topography, we concluded that the observed differences are mainly due to differences in sampling effort or taxonomic research intensity in different countries. We characterised three eras of bee taxonomy. The highest rate of species description per annum occurred during the first half of the 20th Century, before generic revisions were prevalent, and when the focus was on consolidating knowledge and developing identification keys. We also researched the locations of type specimens, which included all primary types and syntypes. Most types are housed in western Europe. We describe the Catalogue of Afrotropical Bees (CAB), a biodiversity information system and related GBIF checklist that is the system’s standardised, published output. In the revised CAB, all Afrotropical bee genera have been given common names, many of which are new.
Highlights
We describe research strengths and gaps in the taxonomy of non-Apis bees (‘bees’) across most of the Afrotropical Region
We used data extracted from the Catalogue of Afrotropical Bees (CAB) that had been digitised from species descriptions
We summarised the main periods of research in Afrotropical bee taxonomy and the taxonomic contributions of the main contributors, to try to explain the knowledge gaps we found in the observed country-scale distribution of bees
Summary
We describe research strengths and gaps in the taxonomy of non-Apis bees (‘bees’) across most of the Afrotropical Region. We used data extracted from the Catalogue of Afrotropical Bees (CAB) that had been digitised from species descriptions. Development of the CAB as a biodiversity information system. The CAB was developed to represent rich, species-level data about Afrotropical bees found in literature. The basic unit of information is a taxon citation, meaning that the CAB is a page-level index of scientific literature on Afrotropical bees, most of which is the output of 260 years of taxonomic research. The CAB is updated regularly and will be useful for future taxonomic research, studies in pollination ecology in the Afrotropical Region or in any research that depends on bee taxonomy
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